Troy wonder

Gonyea's the newest Worcester buzz

by Mark Edmonds

Just after 9:30 on a recent Thursday night, Gilrein's is still empty -- except for Leslie, the bartender, doorkeeper Patrick Murphy (who's passing the time by noodling with a beaten acoustic guitar), and one other fellow. It's not exactly looking like a promising start for Troy Gonyea's weekly blues series. But he'll take it anyway. The 20-year-old blues wunderkind from Auburn is set up in a corner in front of the bar with his ax strapped on, ready to play. And he doesn't care who's there to listen.

Through the winter, the singer/guitarist teams up with Boston bassist Dave Clark and drummer Dave Armstrong to play a gamut of blues styles from hardcore Chicago shuffles to vibrating Louisiana swamp sounds to drag-tempo Texas pumps. While they're at it, they'll be taking anyone who should wander through the old building's battered oak door for a ride back in time. The journey ends in the 1950s, an era looked upon with great reverence by postwar-era blues aficionados. Over 10 years, from 1949 through '59, cities such as Chicago and Memphis became the birthing grounds for modern blues and rock and roll -- a sound that lives on today on CD re-issues and in live performances, thanks to the efforts of young players like Gonyea, who've tailored their styles to match the period.

In the visuals department, Gonyea has the retro look down pat. Dressed in a dark sportcoat, wide-wale slacks and a slick, embroidered silk tie, and with his jet black hair pulled into a low-rise pomp, he seems as if he stepped right out of a wrinkle in time. But more important, he can really play. Once he and the beret and boot clad Clark go to work, it seems as though he's been doing this for much longer than the roughly seven years that have passed since he started playing along to Howlin' Wolf records in his bedroom.

The two open up their first set with a read-through of tenorman Gene Ammons's swing-timed instrumental "Red Top" that finds Gonyea plucking and pulling the strings on his gold Les Paul model Gibson as if Charlie Christian, Pee Wee Crayton, and T-Bone Walker were all channeling through him from the great beyond. Clark holds the bottom together with his electric, straddling the beat with heavy notes that envelop the room. Fill-in drummer Dan Bungee (Armstrong had to sit out the night) whipsaws a double-time ride out of his kit that crackles with rim shots and cymbal flourishes.

It goes on like this for the next 40 minutes, through a slow drag cover of obscure Lone Star blues player Dusty Brown's "She's Gone" (where Gonyea snaps his E string on an overly ambitious bend), into Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones's galloping "Letter to My Girlfriend" and a handful of other songs that wrap up with "Frankie and Johnny" -- an ancient standard once covered by harp legend Big Walter Horton. By the time they're done, the folks who've come in off the street have no other choice but to applaud.

Why does Gonyea stick to this retro blues while other developing players his age such as Boston's "Monster Mike" Welch, Louisiana's Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Minneapolis's Johnny Lang are making larger splashes by playing more contemporary and louder styles? His answer is straightforward. The sound is where his heart is.

"Early on, when I was about 13, I used to listen to blues programs on WCUW and WGBH," he explains. "And from there, I bought CDs and started playing along to records. I practiced hard . . . you know, I was locked in a room for 12 hours a day and stuff like that."

He says his favorites were Chess legends Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, two figures who are credited with popularizing urbanized Delta blues. "They had a vibe to their music that just captivated me," he says. "When you listen to those records, the sound of those things is really mysterious and kinda spooky. The first record I ever bought, and the one that's still my favorite, was Howlin' Wolf's Moanin' at Midnight. It took a long time to pick up, but there were a lot of little things going on in it, things that are really hard to play and get right."

In his brief career, Gonyea's already done several years' worth of gigs with Ron Sloan and Evening Shade (the band also featured the seasoned Clark and Armstrong) as well as tons of guest appearances in regional clubs (recently, he was invited to join the Fabulous Thunderbirds on stage when they stopped in Northampton). For the future, he sees a lot more playing, and maybe even recording. Somewhere in there, too, are a whole string of Thursdays in Worcester.

"We figure it's going to take awhile to make this happen," Clark says optimistically, "but we're here for the long run. It may take a few months, but we're gonna make this happen. This is a musicians band, and people only have to find us to find great music."

The Troy Gonyea Trio play Gilrein's at 9 p.m. every Thursday. Admission is $3. Call 791-2583.